Ballooning in a Storm.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 180, 27 November 1886, Page 6

Ballooning in a Storm.

Professor Brooks and I left the ground at Winatead in the brand-new balloon at 1*2.56 p m , four minutes before the advertised time for the ascension. We started thua early to avoid a heavy shower which "waa faat coining up in the south-west. The start availed us nothing ; however by the time we had reached an altitude of eighteen hundred feet the 8 tor in was upon ua. The monstrous balloon whirled around and swayed about, and we were wet through by the driving rain. Twenty pounds of sand was quickly thrown out, and we shot up through the rain-cloud like an arrow. My companion emiled, as we came into the sunshine above, and assured me that it was nothing but a little " flurry " liable to occur upon any trip. We could now look down upon our -recent enemy with composure, and over the edge of the cloud to the north had a magnificent view of the earth thickly dotted with towns and villages, some near enough to be recognised, while others were so far away that the houses looked like white dots upon the broad groen fields. The various lakes, ponds, and smaller bodies of water shone in the sunlight like silver shields. All sounds from the earth having ceased, "we sailed silently along enjoying the wonderful panorama. Soon the emell of gas caused us to look up ; the diminished pressure, due to the great elevation, had caused the gas to expand to such an extent that it was papeing out of the opening at the bottom of the envelope at the rate of several hundred feet a minute My associate quickly seized the valve-rope and held the twelve -inch valve open abqut three seconds ; this relieved the pressure upon the balloon and caused U 9 to descend about a thousand feet. The clouds were swiftly gathering from all directions, and to all appearances we were going to have etorm. At my timid suggestion that we drop down through the lower layer of clouds and make a landing, my mate turned to me and put the question, " Are you afraid ?" With my heart in my throat I replied, "Oh, no; I like it." (The latter part of this an ewer, at least, not true, but I have since confessed the fact to Professor Brooks, and he himself confessed that he knew it all along ) While we were debating we were steadily approaching an ominous black bankof clouds which waa apparently cix hundred feet through upon the outer edge. Theae clouds were continually moving about, seething and boiling like the ocean in a storm, while cold winds swept along the face, chilling us and causing the mercury to fall twenty degrees in as many seconds. Large blocks of cloud would break away from the main body, sometimes passiDg over us, sometimes under us, and then enveloping us in such darkness and rain that the balloon was ecarcely visible from the car. The professor remarked that he was not pleased with the appearance of things, and began to tumble the ballast overboard ; but in the occupation of giving me a fright he had delayed too long, for with a whirl wo were drawn into the black-walled thunder-head, into the darkness and storm. Now began a season of terror which can be but feebly described. The rain was continuous, pouring in upon us from all sides, from above and below, being forced about by the everchanging wind. Forked tongue 9 of lightning opened and lighted up great gaps in the liquid gloom, each blinding flash accompanied by sharp, deafening thunder which reverberated through the dark mass with frightful distinctness. Overhead the monstrous balloon trembled, shivered, and anon shifted its poeition in the netting with a tearing eound which, if possible, added to our terror. At times it stood still for a moment, then, toppled over by an upper current, it would swing away, swiftly dragging the car diagonally behind— as schoolboys play "snap the whip" — to be again twisted around and brought to a halt by a cross-current. Thiswasa most sickening experience. While the massive gas-bag overbead contained all »f the lifting power and struggled manfully to hold us up, it had no lateral strength ; when a strong counter-current struck it, over it would go until it lay upon its side with the cords between the car and balloon foramomentslack, then the car and its stooping occupants would drop the length of the cords, straining the yielding willow of which the car was composed to the last degree, and wringing the "water from the cordage which attached it to the balloon. Heretofore we bad knelt t>ack to back, grasping opposice sides oi the car, to preserve the equilibrium. Now, upon turning around our eyes met ; his face was white, but not a word was spoken. Handing the barometer to me, he seized an Open bag of ballast, weighing eighty pounds, »nd with the valve cord tied about his arm, to prevent the wind from blowing it out of "his reach, he stood bareheaded, with dishevelled hair and set teeth, looking, in the lightning-lit scene, the very picture of determination. I called out "Three thousand feet " (we had entered the cloud five thousand feet above the level of the sea) ; over went half the ballast ! Despite the weight of rain in the cordage, we began to ascend, and the barometer-pointer slowly moved around to threethouaand eight hundred feet and stopped. I nodded, indicating that we were stationary, and over went the ether half of the ballast, bag and all. Again the unwieldy apparatus mounted upward through the dismal etorm until the pointer registered four thousand five hundred feet. Ballast to the amount of nearly three hundred pounds was thrown out, and an altitude of six thousand two hundred and fifty feet was reached. Thus, after passing up three thousand two hundred and fifty feet through the thunder- cloud and running out of ballast, there was but one • -s&lternative left — namely, to allow the "balloon to settle down through the storm, faring weight, in the shape of rain, added every minute (every meßh in the netting formed a little reservoir for holding the water), and take our chances for being dashed to pieces upon the land or drowned in some small body of water. ~We feared, too, that in again entering the thunderclouds, and running the terrible gauntlet of lightning-flashes, the gas escaping from the balloon might be set on tire, and the perils of our already frightful situation reach their climax. The earth having been out of eight over half an hour wa had not the remotest idoa of our location. Already we were swiftly descending, and as the pointer upon the barometer began slowly to revolve backward, a sickening feeling overcame me. The awful silence was broken by the professor, who asked— " How fast are we falling ?" After comparing the barometer and watch I replied — '• One hundred feet every three seconds." " And we have but just started," was his cheerful rejoinder. Every movable article in the car, except a few valuable instruments of but little weighs, was thrown overboard. Witj) an appealing expression upon Mb worn countenance, the professor turned to me and aeked, " Is there anything slse we can throw out to lighten the load ?" As a ehjiwrrocked sailor, hopelessly lost, starved and^Kbiraty,' look* covetously upon the last drjgrp of water, thus I, with equally greedy eyes, looked upon a pair of cowhide boots which adorned the lego of 07 learned

asaociate. But no ! Banish the though*" ! I answered him " Nothing !" We were falling thirty-three feet per second, causing the cloth trimmings upon the sides of the car to flap violently, and the resistance offered by the air forcing great hollows into the yielding cloth of the balloon overhead, the flabby and trunklike neck of which slowly waved from side to side. As this neck rubbed with a grating noise against the varnished sides of the balloon, it seemed a<3 if some huge elephant was accompanying us in our nightmare descent to destruction. Still there wos no cense of falling. There was the certain information of the fact offered by the barometer, and we saw that the rain seemed stationary, but there was no dizzy sensation. Within three horrible minutes the earth was dimly seen through the rain. As it seemed to come swiftly towards us we became more fully impressed by our danger. It was frightful 1 awful. Now the wind| changed, and instead of falling perpendicularly we took a diagonal course. My friend, ever fullof Ideas, brightened up and said eagerly, " If this lower currentof air holds eteady, and theentire apparatus can stand the strain of a strong anchorhold, I think wo can make a landing withont getting killed." Saying which, he handed me the " rip-cord," with earnest instructions to take up all the slack and pull bard the instant he gave the order, while he carefully and skilfully recoiled the long \ anchor-rope, so that it should not become knotted and tangled at the la9t moment. Everything about the balloon, except the proteasor, was new ; it ought to stand the strain. There was a hope. I was anxious for the trial to take place, while he, although as thoroughly frightened as myself, had a better control over hia feelings. We were now five hundred feet from the ground, and after passing like a shadow over a Btrip of woods, the heavy, fourpronged steel grapnel, with ita two hundred feet of untried one-inch rope, was thrown out. We watched with bated breath and feverish interest the result. It first caught in a clump of alders, and as the rope quickly tightened like a whip- cord, the bushes came out by the roots, without having made a perceptible impression upon our progress. In an instant the grapnel bad passed on twenty rods and caught a three-inch maple-tree close to the ground. Thinking this would bold, my instructor called out, " Rip it !" In- an instant there was a'hole forty-one feet long in the balloon, and with a fearful crash the car struck the ground, stunning for a moment its two occupants. But we had not yet finished our journoy, for the grapnel, after bending the mapletree down to the ground and stripping it off every leaf and small limb, had let go. The balloon, being more than half full of gas, and assisted by the wind, lifted us clear of the ground, and, after going along at railroad speed for an eighth of a mile, dropped us again. We partly sailed and partly dragged in this manner for a long distance, grabbing frantically at every bush and tree within our reach. For an instant my companion would glance over the edge and grab at the air; then he would take his turn at being walked upon in the bottom of the Bwift revolving basket. After ploughing up the ground and levelling everything in our path, we brought up against a post-andrail fence built upon a stone wall, a dozen or more lengths of which bowed out like a horse-shoe ; but it held together, and we landed alive. Crawling out through the slack ropes from under the ill-smelling balloon, we threw our wet arms about each other's necic and wept. I casually remarked, as we viewed the half acre of tangled balloon wreckage and meteorological instruments scattered about, that my researches in the interest of science would hereafter be confined to lower altitudes. Thus terminated one of the most dangerous trips ever taken. We were in the air fifty-four minutes, during thirtyeight of which we were out of sight of the earth in the thunderstorm, and had travelled in a roundabout course about seventy miles. I did not recover from my fright for daye, and was thoroughly discouraged at the prospect of accomplishing anything in the line of photography from a balloon. — Alfred E. Moore, in the "Century."